4 Consumer Stock Stories To Kick Off the Investment Shopping Week

Even though Hulu’s owners Walt Disney Co., 21st Century Fox Inc. and Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal called off plans to sell the service, knowledgeable sources said that discussions to sell a stake in the streaming service to Time Warner Cable are ongoing, as they move to create a stronger rival to Netflix Inc. The sources say that an agreement is not imminent, but one might be reached in the next two weeks. Prior to this, Time Warner Cable had tried to purchase a 25-percent interest. These talks come as a $750 million commitment from Hulu’s owners goes forward, backing Hulu’s push to lure subscribers and challenge the industry leader Netflix, which has 34 million paying customers.

On Monday, Krispy Kreme said that its board has okayed the buyback of as many as $50 million of its common stock, effective at once. The firm also announced that it has refinanced its secured credit facilities, and retired in its entirety the $22 million outstanding balance of its term loan. The $50 million share buyback program will be implemented as market conditions allow, via purchases made from periodically in either open market or private transactions, pursuant to Securities and Exchange Commission requirements. As of July 12, the firm had roughly 66 million shares outstanding.

Joes Jeans and Hudson Clothing Holdings, Inc., have reached a definitive stock purchase deal, through which Joes Jeans will buy the privately-held Hudson. The total purchase price for Hudson is roughly $97.6 million, subject to certain adjustments, and will be payable in cash and convertible notes issued by the buyer.

GM and Honda Motor Co. will partner on the development of next-generation fuel cell vehicles, so as to comply with the fuel economy standard set in the United States. Currently, both automakers have in excess of 1,200 fuel cell patents between them, filed between 2002 and 2012, together with experimental vehicle fleets. They are the top two firms in terms of total fuel cell patents according to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index. Both firms intend to develop the vehicles by the year 2020. The alliance will lower their costs in building this expensive tech as they share each other’s expertise and suppliers.